As we enter the dog days of summer, activity around the NHL slows down. Most of the big-name free agents are off the board, and everyone is enjoying some much needed time off before everything heats up in the fall. During this time, we are taking a look at all 30 teams to see where they are and what they still need to do. Today, we look at the Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver has been relatively quiet in terms of transactions so far this summer. They haven’t made any trades, and they have only signed a single unrestricted free agent, albeit a decent one in Loui Eriksson. Eriksson will likely start on the top line with the Sedin twins, creating an all-Sweden top line. Though this line will be fun to watch, it will likely not be enough to make this team a contender for the Stanley Cup championship, especially where they are in the tough Western Conference. Most of their top players are over 30 years old, which poses a challenge for them long term. If they are to make a strong playoff run, they will need big contributions from some of their younger players, like Jake Virtanen, Bo Horvat, Nikita Tryamkin, and Brendan Gaunce. They are also close to reaching the salary cap ceiling (currently only $3.4M in cap space remaining), so don’t expect them to sign any more impact players. Barring an upcoming trade, it looks like the Canucks are done for this summer. If that is the case, fans in Vancouver could be in for another long year.

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As we enter the dog days of summer, activity around the NHL slows down. Most of the big-name free agents are off the board, and everyone is enjoying some much needed time off before everything heats up in the fall. During this time, we are taking a look at all 30 teams to see where they are and what they still need to do. Today, we look at the Edmonton Oilers.

Outlook:Edmonton is continuing it’s long rebuild, but is showing signs that they are ready to take the next step toward finally returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Last season was derailed before it really got going. Their 2015 first overall draft pick, Connor McDavid made the team right away, but then got hurt in his 13th career game, suffering a broken clavicle on November 3, 2015. He did not return until February 2, and by then, Edmonton was 14 points out of a playoff spot, and in dead last in the Western conference. They never really recovered after that. Despite having a top 10 overall draft pick in 9 of the last 10 years, including picking first overall 4 times in that span, they continue to struggle to translate that into wins on the ice. But this year feels different. This summer, GM Peter Chiarelli has been active both in the trade and free agent markets, and has made big splashes in both cases. On June 29, he traded away forward Taylor Hall to New Jersey in exchange for defenseman Adam Larsson. Two days later, he signed LA Kings’ winger Milan Lucic, who became an unrestricted free agent as a free agent. Larsson brings some much needed help back on the blue line, while Lucic is a proven NHL veteran who brings lots of playoff experience. He can pass that experience on to the young kids in the Oilers locker room. If that isn’t enough excitement, Edmonton opens their brand new arena, Rogers Place, this fall. All of the changes in Edmonton have the Oilers fans excited for the upcoming season.

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Season 1, Episode 1 of the Hockey Nuts Podcast has been released! Hosts Wayne Hallee and Steve Ball take you around the league with news and notes from the NHL. Subscribe to the podcast through your favorite pod catcher today!!!

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7/6/16 – The Dog Days of Summer

This post isn’t going to add much value, as it’s primary purpose is to get the blog portion of our site off the ground. We are in the middle of the summer, so there isn’t much going on, at least not on the ice. It is July 5, and we are just coming out of the July 4 weekend here in the USA. The new calendar year for the NHL just got underway on July 1. There were tons of free agents changing teams on July 1, the specifics of which will be on another blog post. Since July 1, it has been very quiet in terms of signings. I’m guessing most folks around the league kicked back over the holiday weekend. We are now heading into development camp season. Some teams have already had their camps, and other teams will be having theirs in the next few weeks. The local team near me, the Carolina Hurricanes has theirs July 6-9. As we enter August, things will get real quiet around the league as most players and front office staff will be taking their last vacation time before training camps get going in September. Also, about 180-200 of the world’s best players will be preparing to get together in Canada for the World Cup of Hockey tournament that takes place from 9/17-10/1. So, for the next 2 months, things will be fairly quiet around here, but rest assured, if anything newsworthy comes up between now and then, we will be sure to put in our two cents about it!